Operation: JAVELIN
by AgentOhio273
Summary: One war ends. Another begins. But this time, The two former enemies have reunited, but this time, they have a certain interplanetary military, and an infamous team looking to redeem themselves, backing them up. WARNING: Story may include, but is not limited to: Violence, guns, swearing, shooting, jet fighters, A bunch of clueless idiots, and explosions. LOTS of explosions.
1. Saved By A 200-Ton Winged Angel

**This is my first story. It begins in the middle of the 10th episode of season 12. I'd also like to make it clear that Rooster Teeth and 343i own everything in this chapter, except for the specific pelican variation that appears here. The only thing I own is my OC, who you'll see in another chapter. This has since been edited from it's original format. Explanation: The old one was shit.**

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The soldier standing next to Locus lowered her weapon and turned towards him.  
"Alright." She said, Raising a grenade."That's all I need to hear."  
she activated the digital fuse on the grenade, dropped it,and dove off the building she was standing on.  
"KILL THEM!" Locus yelled and started unloading his .50 sniper at the soldier.  
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" Tucker yelled.  
"Just shoot!" Wash said, raising and firing his battle rifle.  
"Well, about damn time!" said Sarge, who was gleefully putting 8-gauge holes in anything that tried to shoot him.  
Wash looked over at their saviour, who was going hand-to-hand with Felix.  
"_Who the hell?_" Wash thought. He knew he had heard the voice many times before,  
Felix landed a glancing blow on her, causing her armour to flicker a light aqua-ish colour.  
"Carolina?" Wash looked again. Her fighting style, her voice.  
"Shit, where the fuck did she come from?!" Wash thought.  
"Hey FELIX!" He said, causing Felix to glance in his direction, which Gave Carolina time to tackle him and start beating him senseless.  
"You think you're fast?" Felix grunted, drawing his combat knife and stabbing Carolina in the leg, causing her to give a shout of pain and stumble backwards.  
Wash fired his Battle Rifle at Felix, part of the three-round burst grazing his shoulder plate.  
Wash was about to fire another burst when a red sighting laser flickered in his vision.  
"Fucking drop it." the sniper, standing atop the building said to wash.  
Not wanting to get disintegrated, he began to lower his gun slowly.  
"Put the fucking gun down, and die with less pain." the sniper said. "Now."  
Just as Wash started to raise his hands, A line of .50 caliber machine gun rounds raked across the deck, Killing the sniper and a few other soldiers. Wash whipped around to look at the source of the gunfire to see a D80H-EV custom Pelican fly under the one of the big station building's mass driver arms.  
"Is that..."  
The pelican knife-edged by the building, flying low enough that Felix was smacked in the side of the head by the wing, and giving Carolina a glimpse of a white-armored pilot and the UNSC emblem along the side of the fuselage.  
"Who in the UNSC would be searching for _us_?" Carolina said.  
"The Reds and Blues crash-landed here, remember?" said wash.  
"But who flies a pelican like THAT on an extraction run?" said Carolina. "The only person I can think of is-"  
"Miss me dipshits?" Came 479er's voice over the radio.  
"Her" Said Carolina.

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**I'd like to make it clear that I know the quality of this could be better, as I've improved in other chapters. I came back and reformatted it using the knowledge I have gained, but I still feel it could be better. I'm probably going to rewrite at some point, but not yet.**


	2. Some Jackass In A Jet Fighter

**Well, I'm back. Explanation for late as hell update: Laziness. Anyway, just forewarning, this chapter will really be throwing some parts of the canon out the window. Also, beware my tendency to use overly detailed descriptions. RvB and Halo are owned by Roosterteeth ad 343 Respectively, the sky is blue, trees are green, blah blah blah, CHAPTER 2!**

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Agent Washington watched the pelican move away from the outpost after it's first run, before being snapped back to reality by an enemy round impacting the snow beside him. Unflinchingly, he raised his battle rifle and downed two of the shooters with a bursts to the head. As he continued fighting, he spoke over his radio to the pilot of the pelican.  
"What, you just going to leave us here?"  
Four-Seven gave a snort before replying.  
"Yes, Asshat, I came all the way out here looking for you clowns just so I could drop in and say hi."  
As she said this, she pulled the pelican into a tight turn back to the outpost, with vapour rolling of its wings from the cold air and high-G maneuver.  
"You could have decided to show up a few seconds earlier, it would have helped the situation."  
"I suppose your going to take that out of my tip too, Carolina?"  
"Well, it's nice to see you haven't changed a bit, Four-seven."  
"Depends on what you mean by 'change', Carolina."  
This time it was Wash who responded.  
"What the hell does that mean?"  
"I'll tell you later, Wash. First we're going to get you guys out of here."  
"We?"  
"See for yourself."  
The pelican made another pass on the outpost, but this time, it slowed slightly as it approached, the ramp in the rear dropping for a few seconds, before powering up again as it sped off.  
Wash was staring at the pelican, wondering what Four-seven meant by "We", when an orange glint caught his eye out of the corner of his vision.  
Wash spun around to face the mercenary at the other end of the binary rifle's laser, bringing his battle rifle to bear, when a blue-tinted bubble shield materialized around him, with the Binary rifle's round ricocheting off it, and out of nowhere, the sniper was almost decapitated by a 14.5mm round.  
The round came from an SRS99S5 Anti-materiel sniper rifle,  
and that sniper rifle belonged to North Dakota, who stepped inside the shield and tapped Wash on the shoulder.  
"Keep your head in the game Wash, you'll get yourself killed like that."  
"Who the hell was tha-  
Holy.  
Fucking.  
Shit."  
"Nice to see you too, Washington."  
"I tho-"  
"It's complicated, I'll tell you once we get out of here."  
"Right, we better get back to work, you think you'll be able to help these idiots?"  
"I've got some help"  
"Oh let me guess..."

Carolina was managing to keep things somewhat under control, despite the irritating pain in her leg from Felix's knife, as the Reds and Blues were, surprisingly, _not_ shooting as if they didn't know how a gun worked, and Tucker _wasn't_ trying to hit on her for once in his goddamn life.  
A shotgun fired off to her right, causing her to glance at the shooter, assuming it was Sarge, but then did a double-take.  
"Holy, shit, York? I..How..."  
"What, how did I survive? I would have called, but you didn't leave a number."  
Carolina gave him a look of "fucking really?" that was visible even through her helmet, before replying.  
"I see you haven't changed a bit. Still the joker, huh?"  
"You don't seem to have changed much, either, I see."  
"Not much."  
"Alright, you, Wash, and this band of blockheads that are so important to us for whatever reason want to get a lift out with us, or not?"  
"Sounds like a nice idea, I'll tell them to get ready, you get Four-seven down here, and maybe we'll get out of this mess."  
"Already giving orders?"  
"Yes. Do not question it."  
"Alright, alright, wasn't planning on it."  
"good, let's get to work."  
York reopened his comms channel to Four-Seven, who was circling at an unadvisedly low altitude, taking pot-shots at enemies with the chin-mounted turret on her bird.  
"Alright, we kind of want out, we'd like it if you'd come over and pick us the hell up."  
"Ask nicely."  
"Goddammit, would you PLEASE pick us up, if you'd be so kind?"  
"Okay, I'll set her down right in front of you."  
"We'd rather not go deaf."  
"Don't be such a baby, it's not that loud."  
"If I go deaf, you're going to have a bad day, courtesy of me."  
"If you go deaf, you'll have a bit more than just ONE bad day."  
"Fine, go for it."  
"Already doing it."  
The Pelican came out of its turn to face them, it landing gear dropping and its airbrakes extending.  
"Alright, I ain't stickin' around, so you better get your asses in here."  
York and Carolina started to make a break for the pelican as soon as they saw the ramp start to drop.  
"North, Wash, you coming?"  
Carolina spun around, looking for North, wondering how much crazier this day could get.  
"North? He's -Oh. well nice to see you're also, well, not dead."  
"I could say the same thing about you too, Carolina."  
"Good to see you haven't changed, either, now we better get the Reds and Blues and get out of-ah, Ow. Shit."  
Carolina stepped into the pelican, but her leg buckled slightly from her injury.  
"Fuck, your leg's bleeding, looks like a knife wound."  
"Oh no shit York, I thought it was a papercut! I'll be fine, there's a medic with us, now, since these guys can't take a hint, let me get them in here."  
"Okay, it's now or never people, let's MOVE."  
The rest of the Reds and Blues, along with Dr. Grey, climbed into the pelican but Caboose was hesitant.  
Tucker was a out to ask the pilot to take off, but noticed Caboose wasn't inside yet.  
"Caboose, what are you fucking doing, come on!"  
"Where is the big plane taking us, Caroline?"  
Tucker saved Carolina the trouble by trying to keep Caboose quiet.  
"Don't know. Don't care. Someplace nicer. Let's Get. The Fuck. Out."  
"WILL THERE BE IN-FLIGHT SNACKS!?"  
Four-Seven wasn't sure what to make of this, but did her best to coax Caboose into her bird.  
"None right now, you'll get some when you land."  
"Ok!" Caboose jumped into the pelican the ramp closing behind him.  
Wash breathed a sigh of relief, before a thought struck him.  
"Wait, what the fuck happened to Felix and Locus?"  
He looked out the rear window to see Locus had been berating Felix, who was still dazed from when he was hit with the pelican's wing.  
"Wow. That was lucky. I wouldn't expect someone like Locus to sidetrack himself like that."  
"Who are you talking about, again?" York asked.  
"Two mercs. Felix betrayed us, Locus was always trying to kill us."  
"Uhh, Okay?"  
"I'll explain more later, I have a feeling it'll be a bumpy ride to wherever we're headed, and I should probably do something about my leg."  
"Let me take a look." Dr. Grey walked over, getting down on one knee to get a better view of Carolina's wound.  
"Knife, but you already know that. Nothing major, We got any biofoam onboard?"  
"I think so, here." North took a look in a compartment under one of the seats, pulling out a small canister and giving it to Grey.  
"Yep, this is it, now if you'll just stand still, you'll be fine in just a few minutes."...

"Four-Seven looked through her white and black Air Assault helmet from cockpit of her modified pelican at the sea and shoreline below, the terrain slowly changing from snowy to green, to a more desert-like land.  
She was very proud of her pelican, having designed the variant specifically for her line of work, and her style of flying.  
It didn't have the two-bubble canopy, like most modern variants, rather, it had a more traditional layout, but without most of the frame where the different pieces of glass would join, instead it was one big, streamlined shell, giving the best aerodynamics, and visibility.  
The wings were significantly longer than standard pelican wings, and could rotate independently from the engines, giving more lift, and much more maneuverability. The wings also had pylon mounts for ordnance such as missiles or unguided rockets.  
It had a small set of vertical stabilizers on the back, giving much more yaw control and stability.  
The overall shape was sleeker, shorter in height, and gave off the slight appearance of a very large fighter.  
And last, but not least, it was painted black, with a thick stripe of white running across the to and sides, a bit of her own personal flair.  
but that's enough about the vehicle itself for now.  
Four-Seven opened a comms channel to a controller miles away.  
"Warbird, we have the assets, I'm hauling ass back to your position, how copy?."  
"Solid copy, Angel, we will be prepared for you arrival once you return, stay safe."  
"Uhh, Warbird, I've got multiple radar contacts, how copy?"  
"Solid copy Angel, five of them. GA-TL1 Longsword interceptors. payloads of guns and air-to-air missiles, closing fast."  
"Copy that, it seems they want to pay me a visit, huh?"  
"Well, they don't seem to be looking to donate to charity."  
"Eh, I'll be fine."  
Another voice came on the comms from the controller's side.  
"You sure about that?"  
"Yes."  
"You need help."  
"No, I'm fine!"  
"I was going to go out there anyway, and you know I love flying just as much as you do."  
"Alright, fine, I'll save a few bandits for you."  
"That's what I like to hear."  
"Alright, let's keep each other updated, I'll inform you as the situation develops. Angel out."  
"Solid copy, Angel."  
Four-seven twisted her head around to look through the door to the back of the pelican.  
"Alright, we just made contact with a bunch of fighters, and I don't think they just want to chat, so I suggest you sit the fuck down, buckle the fuck up, and shut the fuck up."  
the Reds, Blues, and former project agents got into their seats, while Washington complained about how this is why he hated flying.  
Carolina walked over to the cockpit door, trying to keep the weight off her leg, gesturing to the rear cockpit seat.  
"Is this reserved for someone else?"  
"Still yours."  
"Nice to be back here again." Carolina said as she slid into the backseat.  
"Nice to have another crewmember again. Now, watch the radar, tell me where they're at, and I'll give you control of the chin mounted 20mm chaingun turret. Only if they fire do you light them up."  
"Got it. We got any backup?"  
"On it's way. Will be a few minutes. We'll be fine until then."  
"Alright Four-Seven, give them a run for their money."  
"Copy that."  
Four seven pulled the stick back slightly, pulling the nose of the Pelican up while engaging the afterburners, in an attempt to get a height advantage over the hostiles.  
"Two of them, bearing 205, angels 15, speed 1500 kilometres an hour and increasing fast."  
"Do you have a visual on them, Carolina?"  
Carolina used the chin turret's camera to check for signs of their pursuers  
"Affirmative, definitely Longswords."  
"Status on them?"  
"Weapons bays open, confirmed hostile. They appear to be trying to get well below us and put a hole in our belly."  
"Does it look like they know we see them?"  
"Negative."  
"Alright, I'm going to keep it that way."  
Four-Seven started a slow right turn, making it gradual as not to arouse suspicion, but tight enough to make the Longswords pause to readjust their aim.  
One of the Longswords started to get a lock on the pelican, which Four-Seven tried to break with a sudden turn, but to no avail, as an alarm sounded in her ears, indicating there was a solid lock on the bird. She tried a few quick, sudden maneuvers before punching out a short burst of flares from the sides and bottom of the pelican.  
"Well, that tipped them off, didn't have much of a choice anyway. Shit's going to heat up fast, Carolina, I suggest you get that gun ready."  
"Okay, everything seems to be in working order, I'll be sticking to the ROE and wait for them to shoot first."  
As she said this, one of the Longswords went full afterburner, rushing the Pelican.  
"Ok then one of our friends just decided to bum rush us from below, you better take evasive right the hell NOW."  
"Copy that, let's show 'em what we got."  
She rolled the Pelican to the right and pulled back on the stick, enabling a much tighter turn than a more conventional one, pulling herself out of the Longsword's line of fire, but not before it had managed to get a lock and fire a missile at the Pelican, which was redirected away by flares from it.  
"Alright Carolina, clear to engage!"  
"Copy, Guns, Guns, Guns!"  
The Pelican looped back around towards the Longsword, the _thunkthunkthunk__thunk_ sound of the 20mm resonating quite clearly through the cockpit.  
Carolina watched one of the Longsword's engines exhaust change from a faint haze to a thick black smoke as she hit it with the 20mm.  
"Got him, he's limping, but still combat capable."  
"I'll get behind him when he gets to our altitude, then you take him out. Go right up his tailpipe."  
"Got it."  
The Longsword managed to get level with the pelican, not risking a higher altitude due to the damage.  
Four-Seven managed to get right behind him with ease, setting up the shot for Carolina.  
"Go for it!"  
Carolina put the reticule right on the glowing back of the turbojet visible through the Longswords undamaged exhaust, and pulled the trigger.  
Another thick smoke followed by an orange trail of flame shot out the back of the Longsword's other engine, with the rest of the wing catching fire shortly after.  
Four-Seven watched it curve down to earth, with the two crewmembers ejecting as the aircraft started to break up.  
"One down, five to go."  
"Copy that, Four Seven. Next contact bearing 170 high, 10k out."  
The next Longsword was less calculated in his attack, the pilot noticeably agitated by witnessing the fate of his ally.  
"Ok, last guy was a bit boring, let's do something more...fun."  
"Knowing you, I think you're going to do something both crazy and stupid."  
"Exactly! Now, on my mark, you're going to fill this guy with a metric fuckton a' lead, got it."  
"Copy that, standing by."  
Four Seven punched the airbrakes and released a few flares as the Longsword lined up its shot on her pelican, nosing forward a bit to ensure that she wouldn't collide with her pursuer  
"On my mark!"  
She rolled the stick over and inverted the pelican as it the Longsword started to overtake it  
"Mark!"  
"Sync!" Carolina unloaded the Armour piercing rounds into the belly and wingroot of the Longsword, shearing the wing off and sending it into an uncontrollable tumble while the crew barely managed to escape.  
Four-Seven righted the Pelican with a rather vicious roll. "Now THAT was fun! You guys having fun back there?"  
Wash sounded like he could throw up. "Any chance you could give us a fucking warning next time before you do shit like that?"  
"No."  
"Asshole."  
"Up Yours."  
"Okay, enough with the bickering, we got three contacts on our six, same altitude, closing fast."  
"Alright, backup should be here in less than... One second." She reopened her radio channel from before, "Can you give me an ETA?"  
"About uhh, thirty seconds. I'll should make radar contact in about ten." There was a faint, but audible whine in the background, the source of which would be a pleasant welcome to Four-Seven.  
"Be advised, I already been engaged, so don't wait for them to fire."  
"acknowledged. keep this channel open.''  
"Copy."  
Sure enough, a contact with a blue friendly tag appeared on the radar, originating from in front of the Pelican, closing at Mach 3.  
"Carolina, shit's about to get fun, hold on to your teeth."  
"I don't like the way you say 'fun'."  
"Can it, Washington."  
Four seven pulled the pelican in to a vertical climb to the left, with one of the Longswords following her into the climb at about 75 metres off her tail.  
"Blue Contact five seconds out." Carolina's anticipation grew, as she glanced away from the radar to see the Longsword chasing them.  
"Fox Three, bitch!"  
The Longsword's right wing disintigrated in a fireball, with a Broadsword fighter tearing through the fireball at the speed of sound.  
Carolina didn't realize what had happened until the blast of sound chasing the broadsword hit the pelican.  
"That voice... Is that who I think it is?"  
"if you think that's Ohio, then yes, yes it is."  
The Broadsword circled around and dropped it's speed to match that of the pelican, while Four-Seven leveled out and formed up on his right wing.  
"Let me guess, Carolina, you probably assumed I was dead, didn't you?"  
"...Yes."  
"Eh, I get that a lot, now we got shit to explode, let's get to it!"  
"Ok, we got two more of these guys, they WON'T be playing nice."  
"Alright, I'll take one of them, you just stay and uh... kill the other one if he shows up."  
"You just want to show off, don't you."  
Ohio gave a small salute through the Canopy of his fighter. "Copy that, Four-Seven."  
Ohio performed a formation break, rolling to the left and pulling sharply away from Four-Seven as he engaged one of the two remaining Longswords.  
He spotted his rival heading in the opposite direction off to the side, and pulled a sharp turn, which would put him behind the Longsword.  
The Longsword spotted him while he was making this turn, and hit their brakes hard, which put Ohio right in front of THEM.  
But that was exactly what Ohio wanted.  
He waited for the Lock warning alarm to go off, dropped his altitude slightly and pulled back on the stick while braking hard, just as the Longsword fired on him.  
The Broadsword's Canards and thrust vectoring worked in such a way, that while the broadsword pointed past vertical, it maintained it's current altitude, acting as a massive brake, with the wings becoming almost engulfed in sheets of Vapour.  
A perfect cobra maneuver.  
What a normal pilot would do is wait for his plane to level out before engaging his target.  
But Ohio was far from a normal pilot.  
Just as the Longsword overtook him, he switched to guns and pulled the trigger.  
the distinctive **_BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT_** of a 30mm GAU/8 series rotary cannon tore it's way through the air, as the 30mm rounds shredded the Longsword in half.  
The Broadsword pulled itself out of the Cobra just as the Longsword began to fall from the sky, and Ohio returned to formation, this time forming up on Four-Seven.  
"So, how many of them have YOU gotten today, Four-Seven?"  
"Well technically it was ME wh-"  
Four-Seven cut Carolina off. "Two kills!" Carolina gave Four-Seven her characteristic death glare, causing her to rethink her answer. "I-,WE got two kills. Today."  
"That makes both of us. Let's see if we can take this last guy out together."  
"Copy that"  
"Ok, I'll hit him with a missile, you finish him off."  
"Got it. I'll stay here and bait him, you get him from behind."  
"Alright, let's Dangerzone this bitch!"  
"Ohio."  
"Whaat?"  
"That's not how that works."  
"Fine. Let's do this!"  
"Copy that!"  
Ohio broke away again, and pulled a wide turn to get behind the last Longsword unnoticed as it cautiously approached the Pelican from behind.  
Ohio pushed the throttle forward, aiming to pass above the Longsword, and opened the internal weapon bay.  
He waited until he was almost on top of his adversary before attempting a Radar lock, just enough distance for his missile to guide, but not enough for flares to divert its course.  
The targeting system changed from emitting a quick beep to a solid tone.  
"Fox Three."  
The AIM-240 air-to-air missile dropped out of the weapons bay, hanging in the air for a split second before accelerating towards its target, and detonating inside the Longsword's left exhaust.  
Ohio engaged the afterburner, managing to overtake the Longsword just moments after his missile struck.  
"Well, he's still in the air, you're up." Ohio said, disengaging his afterburner.  
Four-Seven and Carolina watched Ohio tear over them, with the burning fighter following a few moments later.  
Four-Seven pulled up a bit, just enough to get the Longsword in the turret's line of fire.  
"All yours, Carolina."  
"Firing." The autocannon jumped to life again, Carolina aiming for the border of the wing fuel tank and the already stricken left engine, which put a hole in the wall between them, causing fuel to spill into the exhaust of the engine, causing an explosion which traveled back into the fuel tank, igniting the entire left wing before combusting in a giant fireball, with the rest of the aircraft entering a flat spin down to the ground below.  
"Okay, how come you didn't do that with the other two guys you shot down?"  
"Hey, this thing isn't THAT simple to use."  
"Well, fair enough."  
"Alright ladies, let's get back to base." Ohio's Broadsword returned to formation once again. Carolina noticed that it seemed to be different than normal, just as Four-Seven's craft was, with a much sleeker and less bulky appearance than a standard Broadsword, more wing area, only two engine exhausts rather than a normal Broadsword's four, and it had two vertical stabilizers, whereas a normal Broadsword had none. Like the pelican, it had it's own Black-and-White paint job, except it was white with black detailing, where the pelican was black with white detailing.  
She was snapped back into focus by the radio coming to life again, this time with the voice of what must have been the base ATC(Air traffic Control) tower.  
"Angel One-One and Phoenix One-One, report status. How Copy?"  
Four-Seven spoke first "Angel copies, Citadel, we're undamaged, passengers secure."  
Ohio took his turn. "Phoenix copies, undamaged."  
"Copy that, Phoenix and Angel, you are 5 minutes out."  
"Radar scan, Citadel, any other contacts in the area?"  
"Scanning...negative, Angel, airspace is clear."  
"Warbird, we got some new guys here, as you know, of course, and it's always good to make a good first impression."  
"I hear you."  
"I think you know what to do, just wait for my mark."  
"Copy that."  
"Four-Seven twisted around in her seat. "Hey Wash, get up here!"  
Washington slowly made his way to the cockpit "You know this shit makes me uneasy. Hey is that Ohio?"  
"Oh suck it up. And yes it is." She turned around again "Alright guys, I'm giving you my helmet visual feed."  
Once everyone in the back had her visual, she returned to the radio.  
"Warbird...Decloak Citadel."  
"Request acknowledged."  
"Decloak? What the hell would you-Holy shit." Wash's jaw dropped as the Paris-class frigate _Mother of Invention _flickered into existence before him.  
Carolina remained speechless for a few moments before asking the first question that crossed her mind  
"So... given the fact that I experienced it crashing into a glacier, HOW exactly is this thing flying again?"  
"Well, we just had to use three other frigates to lift it out of the snow, tow it to a repair dock, replace the bottom cargo bay, all the engines, replace the glass on the bridge (which you broke), and give the ship a complete modernization overhaul, it only cost 354 trillion dollars, so no big deal."  
"Not like the military has any sort of limited budget nowadays anyway, right?"  
"Exactly!"  
Grif, who was seeing the ship through the feed from Four-Seven's helmet, spoke up nervously.  
"Uhh... what is that?"  
"_Mother of Invention_. Our old ship." North replied.  
"You mean, the base of project freelancer?"  
"That's right."  
"And we're going to land on it."  
"yes."  
"Oh god."  
Four-Seven twisted around to talk to everyone in the back of the pelican.  
"First, quit your bitching. Second, we're going to be landing in about two minutes, so I HIGHLY suggest that everyone sits the hell down and straps the fuck in!"  
Wash returned to his seat, muttered something about crazy ass pilots, and pulled the restraining bar down over his shoulders.  
Four-Seven pulled the throttle back to about 45%, dropped her landing gear, extended the tailhook, and lowered the flaps to the landing position.  
"Angel requesting permission to land."  
"Request granted."  
The pelican lined up with one of the open hangar bay doors.  
"You are entering the final approach path, Angel. Call the ball."  
"Roger. Angel has the ball.  
"Bring it in Angel."  
Four-Seven dropped the throttle to 30%, opened the airbrakes, and flared the pelican upwards slightly as she neared the hangar bay.  
"Here we go."  
at the last few seconds, she slammed the engines into reverse thrust until she passed the hangar doorway, and pushing the plane's nose downwards, slamming the wheels into the deck, the arrestor wire catching the tailhook and bringing the craft to an almost immediate stop.  
"Landing successful. Welcome back Angel."  
"Thank you Warbird."  
Four-Seven put the engines on a small reverse thrust, backing the plane up before using the steering in the wheels to turn it around to face the hangar doorway, and shut off the engines, as the ground crew moved out to refuel and rearm the aircraft.  
"Okay we're all good here, You can open the ramp. Please exit the vehicle in a calm and orderly fashion."  
Washington stood in front of the ramp as it opened. The next thing he knew, he had drawn his Battle Rifle and had it shouldered with his eyes looking down the scope, flicking the selector to burst. (although he kept his finger off the trigger)  
"Well, it's nice to see you again too, fuckface, but i'd prefer it if you would LOWER the automatic firearm, as being shot in the face by you once was MORE than enough, even if it WAS only a handgun." South Dakota reacted to Wash's sudden aggressiveness by jokingly put her hands up.  
Wash holstered the weapon and stepped off the ramp. "South, I'll admit it. You were definitely one of the last people I expected to see today."  
"Admit it, you knew you couldn't kill me."  
"...no,I...Kind of?"  
Four-Seven walked up to Wash, a DMR on her back. "I see you've reintroduced yourselves."  
She stepped out of the pelican and turned to her left to watch Ohio touch down, her helmet dimming the roar of the Broadsword's engines through noise cancelling.  
"Oh yeah, I'd suggest you tell your friends to keep the guns down, there's some people with us that they might not be too happy to meet."  
Wash looked over to see two other figures standing next to south. "Oh."  
Sarge stepped out of the Pelican, and upon seeing the people Four-Seven mentioned, drew and chambered his shotgun.  
Wash put a hand on the top of the gun before Sarge could level it. "I'm about 80% sure they're with us, so let's put the gun away, shall we?"  
Sarge gave an annoyed grunt, putting his shotgun on is back, making it obvious he was disappointed he didn't get to shoot at Wyoming and Maine.  
The rest of the Reds and Blues Exited the Pelican behind Wash, who put his arm in front of them as he heard them attempt to draw their guns.  
"Guys, it's okay, they're friendly, they won't kill us, let's return the favor."  
Grif wasn't so sure. "Friendly? The Scariest fucking mute in the galaxy and a deranged Brit with a sniper rifle, who tried to kill us 57 times are now FRIENDLY?"  
"Yes."  
"You gotta be fuckin' kidding me."  
"I'm not."  
"Whatever you say then, just don't complain when he kills you."  
Maine just gave an annoyed growl and rolled his eyes behind his helmet._ "Goddammit not this fatass again."_ he thought.  
Carolina stepped out of the stepped out of the Pelican behind the Reds and Blues, North, York, and Dr. Grey right behind her.  
She looked at her former team standing before her. "Well, damn if this isn't the most unexpected thing I've seen today."  
_At least Miss Perfect isn't-  
_"Buenos Dias, Cockbite."  
_Fuck.  
_Carolina spun around to see Agent Texas leaning against the back of the pelican.  
Carolina moved over to Tex, who pushed herself off the aircraft, Standing Face-to-Face with Carolina.  
"Carolina."  
"Texas."  
There was a brief silence between the two, before Tex spoke again.  
"Soo, how have the Universes' most elite dipshits been treating you two?"  
"Well, they're better fighters than I expected, granted, it's still cringe-worthy to witness, but better than nothing nonetheless."  
"Yeah, that's true."  
"Aside from fighting, how have they been?"  
"Well, Sarge is only slightly crazy, Simmons knows what he's doing, just gets performance anxiety, Donut is energetic but...weird, and then there's that Spanish speaking robot and that medic that I don't know the whereabouts of."  
"For the Blues, Caboose is strong, but completely clueless, and Tucker, he's gained a surprising amount of skill in combat, he's also the most determined, but..."  
"He's perverted as fuck. So, I guess it seems like just business as usual?" Texas finished Carolina's sentence, before continuing.  
"You knocked Tucker flat on his ass yet?"  
Carolina was puzzled. "No...Why?"  
"If he makes a pass at you, you can just clothesline him with your fist. It's really satisfying, and actually shuts him up for about an hour or so."  
Carolina gave a slight smirk under her helmet. "Well...I guess I'll have to try that out sometime then."  
"Please do."  
"I will." Carolina paused for a second. "Tex, I'd also like to ask, what are we?"  
"First of all, PHRASING. Second of all, what exactly do you mean?"  
"Well, let's just say I know why this ship ended up in a Glacier for a while."  
"Ah. Well, i'm not sure, really. I don't really feel I'm 'her' if you get what I'm saying, I always felt like something _different._ Something _more_. So, my best guess would be that, technically, we're siblings, of sorts."  
"I can live with that." Carolina replied. "I can definitely live with that. Also, sorry. For, everything during the project."  
"I accept. I'll say the same to you."  
"I accept. Also, Tex, one more thing." She reached around the back of her helmet and pulled out an AI chip. "I think you might want this."  
"If this is who I think it is..." Tex plugged the chip into her own helmet, then suddenly put a hand to her earpiece. "God_dammit_ Church, I'd like to keep my eardrums, I only just got real ones!" she laughed.  
Epsilon's hologram generated next to Tex's head. "First of all, what the fuck goes on in your head, second. how the fuck do you still exist?"  
"So, literally one of the first things I heard you say after they pulled you form the unit was asking if I was the one helping them, and you really think you even _kind_ of forgot me?"  
"At the time, yes!  
"Not really an excuse, but not like you weren't always mental anyway."  
"Same can be said for you. TexASS."  
"That was the weakest joke ever. Of all time. Seriously."  
"Yeah, I actually regret saying that."  
Carolina smiled. "Now that you two have been reacquainted, let's get back with everyone else."  
"You know Grif's going to lose his shit when he sees you."  
"How would I NOT want to see that?"  
"Fair enough."  
As Carolina walked back to the group, who had been talking with each other, and hadn't noticed Tex, who silently walked up behind Grif, tapped him on his left shoulder, and walked by him to his right.  
"Huh? Wha-_mother_FUCKER!" Grif grabbed his weapon, but thought twice about raising it.  
"Happy to see me again, dumbass?"  
"I liked you better when you were dead."  
"I never really was dead."  
"Well then...I never really liked you!"  
"You need to work on your comebacks."  
"...Dammit."  
"Hold up a sec, what's that weapon?"  
"This? No idea. Carolina left it in the Pelican. All I know is that it goes PEW and disintegrates people."  
"Carolina?"  
"I don't know much about it either, all the info I could find was the name 'suppressor'. It seems to feed from some sort of compressed gas."  
"Okay, I think I know who can help us. Hey, Ohio!"  
"What's up, Tex?" Ohio was walking back from his Broadsword with Four-Seven.  
"Grif here's got this gun, and we don't know what the hell it is."  
"Okay, let's see." Ohio took a close look at the weapon. "Not human technology, that's for sure. Seems to be Promethean. Looks like a Z-130 Directed energy Automatic weapon, better known as a suppressor. Given the fact that it's currently loaded, has the ability to essentially delete people, and you have your finger on the trigger, I'd suggest you give that weapon to someone who knows how to safely handle it, I.E. me."  
"Nuh uh, this thing's mine now."  
"Why, exactly?"  
"I called dibs."  
"U wot?"  
"I called dibs."  
"What are we, 7? just hand it over."  
"Who exactly are you, anyway?"  
"I was the one flying the fighter that shot down those two fighters. Now give me the gun."  
"Nope."  
"I'll take it from you."  
"No, you won't" Grif raised the Weapon, levelling it at Ohio's chest.  
Ohio raised his hands slowly. "Okay...If that's how you want it..."  
He brought his right hand down on the gun, pushing it down and pulling it out of Grif's hands, before sending his left elbow into Grif's visor, knocking him over. put a foot on Grif's chest, and drew his battle rifle, holding it one-handed at Grif's head.  
"I think I WILL take it, thank you very much."  
"Uurgh." was all that Grif could manage.  
"Here." Ohio holstered the BR, keeping the suppressor in his other hand, and reached out his hand, which Grif took, and pulled him up.  
"Oh, god, don't do that again."  
"I'll do my best...But it was fun, so no promises."  
"goddammit."  
Tucker noticed one of the members of the group of agents that he hadn't seen before, standing at the back, with her arms folded  
"You seem familiar, have we met?"  
"You making a pass at me?"  
"Surprisingly, no, something about you just seems familiar."  
"...okay..."  
"Who are you, exactly?"  
"Me? I'm Connecticut, or, CT, whichever you prefer."  
"CT? Well, I remember someone with the same name, and almost the same Armour, but that was kind of a dude."  
"That explains quite a bit, actually."  
"Well, now that THAT's cleared up..."  
"Hit on me, and I'll stab you with a large knife."  
"Playing hard to get?"  
"I'm going to kill you."  
"We'll see."  
As Tucker backed away towards his team, he noticed another agen with the group.  
"Oh, hey Flowers."  
"Well, it's certainly nice to see all you guys again!" Flowers gave an enthusiastic wave.  
Simmons was a bit confused about the situation.  
"So, uh, what exactly is this whole thing? And how did you guys get ahold of a Paris-Class frigate without the UNSC noticing?"  
York turned to Simmons. "Well, Ohio and Four-Seven left the project after the incident where this ship crashed, as they knew what was going on. They continued with the normal UNSC as combat pilots. They found all of us by tracking our neural implants, which took about a month, and when they had gotten us flown back to their operating base, they were crucial in convincing the UNSC to get us all on a team again, after which we caught wind of you guy's disappearance, and went looking for you."  
"How come you guys managed to get new armour? I would've thought the UNSC would've given you ODST gear or something."  
"Well, you see, when we were back together, the UNSC decided we had enough skill to be in the new division."  
"Which was?"  
"SPARTAN-IV."  
"SPARTAN? I thought only the 6-year olds ONI abducted could be SPARTANs."  
"That was SPARTAN II and somewhat SPARTAN III. The IV's are The best from the ODSTs, Army, and Marines who can choose to get in."  
"Well, I...That's actually Awesome. Better than I'll ever do."  
"Who says? All you guys have defeated some VERY powerful enemies."  
"Hold the fuck up. You're choosing US to be SPARTANs?"  
"Hell yeah I am."  
"This is amazing!"  
Carolina spoke aloud. "So, who here took the leader while I was gone?"  
Tex raised her hand. "I did, it's been fun, but now that you're here."  
"Let me guess..."  
"You want the old team back Carolina."  
"Yeah, yeah I do."  
Tex turned to her and gave a salute "Welcome back, commander."  
Carolina returned it "Thank you, Texas."  
Epsilon materialized next to Tex's helmet. "It's-"  
CT saw the A.I., and reflexively put a hand on her sidearm. "Tex.."  
"CT, he's good, he was with Carolina, she gave him to me."  
CT took her hand off her sidearm. "Alright. Fair enough."  
A small spherical shape floated into the Hangar. "Nice to see you guys got in fine." It said.  
As it came closer, the obvious shape and blue light of a forerunner monitor became apparent. "I'm Warbird, the Ship's A.I."  
Caboose spun around to see the hovering shape "Hey, It's Hoverchurch!"  
"Uhh...Who?"  
Epsilon answered. "I was in a monitor shell for awhile, It's a long story."  
"Okay then. But yeah, I basically run the ship."  
Epsilon cut in. "I really AM loving the reunion, we've got a war to stop down there."  
Carolina stepped forward. "Alright, I'll explain everything on the way, now let's move!"

* * *

**Now that you've read that, just a note, Yes all those Freelancers are now alive again (deal with it.), and I'm including SPARTAN IVs, but I don't think that's enough Halo content to call this a crossover. Also, I will be using real life military terms, tactics, and possibly weapons in future chapters (The GAU/8 mentioned in this chapter is a real gun.) Also, just because the Reds and blues will be SPARTANs, does NOT mean they will be that much more competent. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter uploaded earlier (No promises.) Until next time, see you.**


	3. Peace, Friendship, and automatic weapons

**I cannot believe I got this one up so fast. I'm happy my writing isn't as shit as it was in the first chapter, (Which, until I re-write, we can all just forget about - Holy shit the writing was bad.) Anyway, Chapter 3. Read. Like it. don't post asshole reviews, you get the drift, HERE.**

**Also, the Pelican launch procedure is closely based on how a real carrier launch works.**

**Before I forget, Thanks to that one guy who reviewed, I really improved with the speech of characters since that first chapter**

* * *

Carolina turned to Four-Seven. "We got another one of these types of pelicans on board?"  
"Yeah, on the other side of Ohio's fighter."  
"Okay, Ohio, I trust that you can fly one?"  
"Sure can."  
"Okay, We'll split up, Simmons, Dr. Grey, Wash, and donut, go with Ohio to the Federal army's deployment base, or wherever the commander is. Grey should know. I'm only sending a few of you there because I want you to fly the commander and whoever he wants to accompany him to the New republic base, to negotiate with Kimball."  
"Copy that. You guys, with me." Ohio walked off towards the other modified pelican, with his "team" close behind.  
"Okay, I'll need the rest of you with me and Four-Seven. They'll need some verification that we really ARE UNSC, and not just mercs with stolen gear."  
York stepped into the Pelican "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"  
As Four-Seven and the others stepped into the Pelican, Carolina turned to Warbird. "Alright Warbird, First, I'll need you to help us get launched, once we're clear, wait 20 minutes, then start to Bring the _Invention_ Along the route we took, I'd like you to get low once you near the New Republic base, but stop very close, not right on top of it."  
"Copy that, now I suggest you get in, you know Four-Seven doesn't like waiting."  
"You got that right, now prepare to launch us."  
"On it."  
As the ramp closed behind Carolina, Warbird hovered out of the Hangar and up a set of stairs to the flight deck control room, with a set of large windows overlooking the Hangar.  
"Angel 1-1, status?"  
"Angel 1-1 standing by."  
"Copy that."  
Four-Seven looked out of the canopy at the two men dressed in green - the catapult/ arresting gear crew, locked the aircraft catapult at the rear position. She looked up at the man in yellow standing slightly to the side of the catapult - the plane director/ catapult officer, or "shooter", waved her forward towards the catapult. the pelican rolled slowly up to the catapult, where the shooter signaled her to stop. The two green shirts ran over to the nosewheel of the pelican, pulled down the connecting link and attached it to the shuttle, before both giving the thumbs up to the shooter and running clear of the bird.  
There was an electric whirr of the backblast deflector raising behind the pelican, and then The shooter made a circular motion with his hands - the signal to run up the engines.  
Four-Seven pushed the throttle up to full, using the stick to test all the control surfaces of the aircraft.  
The shooter gave a thumbs up, signalling all looked to be working right visually, with Four-Seven responding with another thumbs up - all clear on her end, too.  
"Catapult clear, all good, stand by for launch, Angel 1-1."  
"Copy. Standing by."  
Four-Seven turned in her seat. "Hold on to your FUCKING teeth people, we're going to start moving REALLY fast."  
She looked forward again, looked at the shooter, and saluted - the signal that she was ready to launch, which the shooter returned.  
The shooter raised his hand above his head, before dropping to a sideways crouch and touching his fingers to the deck, with his left hand behind his back.  
"Fire away."  
The shooter raised his hand to a level position - the launch signal, and Warbird engaged the catapult.  
The pelican raced down the deck at full afterburner, the tiny bumps of the deck shaking the bird like a pinata, and then - airborne.  
Four-Seven pulled the gear the second she felt the deck leave her behind, and gently rolled the pelican from side to side a few times to get a feel for the controls again.  
"Angel 1-1 airborne."  
"Copy Angel 1-1, good launch."  
"Moving to target, get Ohio up quick."  
"Already on it, Good luck."  
"Copy."  
As the Pelican banked away from the frigate, Ohio was just done getting ready to launch.  
"Stand by Angel 1-2."  
"Copy Warbird."  
"Ohio turned around slightly. "Yeah, I'd buckle up if I were you, Because in about 15 seconds, we'll be doing about 6-700 km/h.  
"Fuck me."  
"Suck it up Wash."  
"Up yours."  
"Jackass, I'm kinda flying a pelican right now."  
Ohio turned back around, saluted the shooter and sat back in his seat.  
"Up, up and away."  
The shooter gave the signal and Ohio left solid deck, ascending into the clear sky around the ship.  
"Good launch 1-2, now You best be going to that base...Wherever it is.  
"Yeah. Hey, Grey? I need you up here."  
"Sure thing."  
"Okay, if you know where your CO is, I'll need you to enter that on the nav screen.  
"Okay. Hey, How come your callsign's Angel now too? I heard the other AI calling you Pheonix."  
"It depends on the aircraft. On this ship, all Broadswords are Pheonix, I'm the lead Broadsword pilot, so 1-1.  
All modified transport Pelicans are Angel, Four-Seven's their lead. Pelican Gunships are Rainman, standard pelicans are Grizzly, Falcons are Kingfisher, and Hornets are Dragonfly."  
"Cool."  
"Yeah. You got those coordinates in?"  
"I think so, the interface seems basic enough."  
"Looks like you got it, It's showing up on my HUD navigation system."  
"Great, now what?"  
"You can return to the back now, if you want. Or you can stay up here."  
"Okay, I'm out." Grey left the cockpit and returned to her seat.  
Simmons waited until she sat down, before entering the cockpit and standing behind Ohio.  
"Hey, uh, Which variant is this? I mean, the Pelican. It looks like the older D77s, but seems to have a much sleeker profile, and is wired like the D79."  
"It's a new model, a special build designed for fast extraction and insertion. If need be, it can even be used as a heavy fighter or attack aircraft, as you evidently experienced firsthand today. It's designed for special forces in mind, such as the UNSC MARSOC, ODSTs, and SPARTANs. Not only that, but we were the first unit to get them, and as of today, the only unit in the entire UNSC to use them in live fire combat."  
"Whoa. Cool."  
"Sure is."  
Simmons looked at the backseat screen. "Huh, the interfacing on this bears a strong resemblance to that of the D77."  
"When did you get to fly up front on a Pelican before now?"  
"You obviously heard about the giant clusterfuck where whe ended up 'killing' meta, right?"  
"Yeah."  
"You hear about a pelican crashing in the area?"  
"Oh."  
"Yeah. That. In my defense, I wasn't the one flying it! Grif was."  
"Which one his he, again?"  
"He's the one you smacked back there."  
"Brilliant."  
"No shit. Oh, do you mind, uh, if I stay up here?"  
"Not at all, take a seat."  
"Awesome."  
Simmons sat down in the rear cockpit seat, looking down as they passed the shore towards an ocean. "So, ETA on this place?"  
"I'm guessing ten minutes."  
"Sounds like enough time...hopefully."  
"Okay, Simmons, that's your name, right? Why exactly is there a war we need to stop?"  
"It's a long story."  
Ohio keyed his Radio. "Carolina-"  
"When we got to the Director's hideou-"  
"How did you fuckin' know."  
"Telepathy."  
"Bullshit."  
"You left your mic on."  
"Ah, fuck me, go on."  
"Well, as I was saying-" Carolina's voice came over the radio from Four-Seven's craft, a thousand kilometers away.  
"When Epsilon and I got to the Director's hideout, we found an Army of Failed Texas clones between us and him."  
Tex cut in. "I'm actually surprised that I'm not surprised. How many were there?"  
"About 1000."  
"Good lord."  
"No shit."  
"Oh yeah, one of them sounded like a man!"  
"UP YOURS, TUCKER."  
"Jesus, take a joke Tex!"  
Carolina cut him off. "Anyway, back to the explanation. Once we passed all of them, with the help of both teams, Epsilon and I found him in a room on his own, watching a...video."  
"Did you kill him? Right there?" CT asked.  
"It wasn't us. He looked like he had died inside anyway. The last thing he asked for before I left was my handgun. So, I left, and it was just him, the video, and a loaded pistol."  
There was a brief silence.  
"I never thought that's how it buy it." CT said.  
"No one did. Well, after the UNSC found us, they credited us for it, gave the Reds and Blues a pardon, and sent them back to their home on a supply ship. I went off with Epsilon hunting after some military grade stuff in the wrong hands. Naturally, when the Reds and Blues were on the ship home they acted like their usual selves, and ended up crashing a UNSC heavy supply ship in a canyon with them being the only survivors. And, because everyone knows their luck, the planet they landed on is in the middle of a civil war. Both sides tried to take the crash site, the group was split, With both sides believing that they rescued the ones with them, and the guys on the other side had been captured. Meanwhile, I tracked some high-tech weapons, like the one Ohio took from Grif, to this planet. I soon found out that the war was started by some space pirates, who wanted to show that they could make a population wipe itself out just for money. There were two mercenaries, seemingly on opposing sides of the war, but of course, were under the same leader. The situation where those two mercs revealed themselves was today, and Exactly what York, North, Four-Seven and Ohio pulled us out of. The thing is, the two sides of the war don't know that it's a fake, not even their leaders know it., and what we're doing right now is making those leaders aware, stopping the war, and bringing both sides into an alliance, which will help us a lot in the weeks to come."  
"Wow." Ohio responded. "So, case in point, shit's about to get real?"  
"Real fast." Carolina replied. "All of the reds and blues have proof, in the form of their helmet recordings. We can just get one for each group on the pelicans, and show it to them, hopefully they believe it. The Fact that many of you have UNSC markings on your armour helps too."  
"Got it. I'm approaching my destination, so good luck."  
Four-Seven Turned to the back. "Same here, let's not fuck up."  
Ohio switched off his radio, and called to the back of his bird. "Uhh, medic? Get ready, you're up soon."  
"Got it. Also, It's Dr. Grey."  
"Got it." Ohio started descending, and lowered his gear and flaps. A grey cloud appeared before him as he descended.  
"Snowstorm. might be slight turbulence, nothing bad."  
"They're contacting us." Simmons said.  
"Okay, I'll take it from here."  
Ohio keyed his mic to the Fed's channel.  
"This is UNSC Transport Angel one-two, request permission to land, over."  
A staticky response was heard "UNSC? Bullshit, man, you'll have to wait."  
"This is urgent."  
"You sure...?"  
"Trust me."  
"...Fine, Angel One-Two, helipad 3, permission granted, over."  
"Thank you."  
The base came into sight at the shore line of the ocean, as Ohio dropped through the bottom of the cloud cover. It was a bit larger than what Ohio had expected, fully functioning, but obviously low on resources.  
Ohio dropped back on the throttle, and rotated the engines up, slowing to almost a stop before perfectly touching down on the helipad, and shutting down.  
Ohio started to open the ramp. "Grey, go out first, they don't know who we are, but they know you."  
"Okay." As the ramp opened, Grey stepped out, the soldiers on the platform half lowered their rifles, showing uncertainty.  
"Guys, they really are UNSC, we're good."  
"O-Okay." the soldiers lowered their weapons completely.  
"Where's Doyle?"  
"Command building."  
"Get him over here."  
"Ma'am, you're not authorized-"  
"This is EXTREMELY fucking important."  
"Fine. I'll see what I can do."  
The soldier turned and walked off the helipad, across the snow-covered tarmac, and entered a small building.  
"You sure this will work?" Grey asked as Ohio, simmons, and Donut stepped out of the pelican.  
"It better, and unless your commander is a complete nob, it probably will."  
"Well, he's not an idiot..."  
"Take what you can get." Ohio said. "Hey, uh, Donut, right? Okay, just let let me see your helmet."  
Ohio moved over to Donut, and pulled a chip out of the side of his helmet, and held it up for him to see. "This thing is what your visual from the past few days is recorded on. I'll just load it up here...and we're good." Ohio inserted the chip into a small circular device he had stored in one of the soft pouches on his SOLDIER-class chestplate. "Hologram projector. Self explanatory."  
Grey gestured to the other side of the tarmac, where a soldier in gold-accented white armour stepped out of the building with one of the soldiers from earlier. "Moment of truth time."  
"Okay. Here we go."  
Doyle stepped forward on to the helipad. "So, I heard there's some important situation that's come up?"  
Ohio stepped forward and saluted Doyle. "Commander."  
Doyle returned the salute, and Ohio lowered his arm. "The name is Doyle, I see you are rather well disciplined, who are you, may I ask?"  
"They didn't tell you already?" Ohio responded.  
"All they told me was some hogwash about the UNSC. Can't be true, of course. UNSC forgot this planet years ago."  
"Well, it's far from hogwash, sir." Ohio gestured to the markings on his shoulder, and on the Pelican's gear leg and wing."  
"Well, I'll be damned. I take it you came here to claim your ah...friends?"  
"Originally, yes, but as of two hours ago, we've discovered a FAR more pressing matter."  
"Oh? What would that be?"  
"Here." Ohio pressed a button on the hologram projector, and set it on the tarmac. A giant image of Donut's helmet footage appeared in the air before them.  
"What's this?"  
"An explanation for a great many things that you want answered. Watch."  
Everyone on the helipad watched the footage, as Donut moved up the hill with the rest of both teams.  
"Isn't that one of our bases?"  
"Uh-huh."  
The recording continued, as Donut crested the top of the hill, everyone in the video was looking around, wondering why it was still so quiet, before they saw a federal soldier- who was promptly hit with a orange bolt, collapsed, and was disintegrated alive.  
"GOOD LORD! What the hell?" Doyle had no idea what he was seeing.  
"Oh, I think it's going to get real 'better'." Ohio said.  
Doyle kept watching, as he saw a laser land on everyone in the recording's chest and head, and as everyone looked up to see Locus standing over them.  
"Is that-"  
All the mercs decloaked around Locus, as he stood smugly over the teams. "Like lambs for the slaughter." He said.  
"Alright, what in hell is this?"  
"Exactly what it looks like." Ohio said.  
In the recording, Donut Glanced at Tucker, holding the grenade behind his back, before looking away quickly. The sound of Locus' rifle going off made Doyle jump, even through the recording. He watched as Donut looked towards Tucker, seeing Felix had blocked the shot with his shield, Tucker tossing him the grenade, and the moment when Felix turned to face Tucker, laughed, and tossed the grenade to Locus.  
"Wait, they're working TOGETHER?" Doyle asked.  
"I guess so."  
Doyle watched in shock as Felix and Locus explained how it was all for money, before the moment of truth, Felix turning to Wash, and saying "I'd rather just nuke the planet, but that raises suspicion. The best way to kill off a planet, is for the population to kill of each other. Like, in a civil war."  
"Bloody fucking hell. Is this what I think it is?"  
"yes."  
"IT WAS ALL A SETUP? This entire thing!?"  
"The whole war."  
"Holy shit. dear Lord. Grey, is this true?"  
"Experienced it firsthand, sir."  
"Oh yeah, also, here's where it gets fun." Ohio said  
"Mate you wot?" Doyle looked back at the hologram, as Carolina leaped off the platform, dropping a grenade, and everyone with a weapon started firing.  
"The one that dove off the platform is also a former Freelancer."  
"I thought they were dead. You sure she's not lying to you?"  
"She can't be."  
"Why not?"  
"Considering that I'm a former freelancer myself, I should know her personally."  
"Wait, YOU were in the project? didn't they do horrible things?"  
"I ditched and went to the UNSC when I found out what was going on."  
"Good on you, mate."  
"Thanks."  
"Alright, I've seen all I need to, now what?"  
Ohio picked up and switched off the projector. "There's another, larger UNSC team at the New Republic base, doing pretty much exactly what we just did here. I think you and Kimball can make an agreement."  
"Okay, but how will they not kill me?"  
"They won't shoot one of their C.O.s, Who is Mr. Simmons over here, and much less a UNSC member."  
"Sounds good. When do we leave?"  
"Soon as you're ready."  
"Okay. One second." Doyle turned to his soldiers. "Locus will probably come back here, he killed everyone else at that base, he doesn't know we know. If he tells you the reds and blues are dead, play along. Fabricate some lone wolf scout mission for him for some big money, just make it look believable. Just try and keep him out of here, but be subtle."  
"Yes Sir!" the soldiers ran off the Tarmac. Doyle turned to Ohio, "Oh yeah, mate, what would I be calling you, now?"  
"Ohio, sir."  
"Doyle stepped into the pelican. "Alright, Ohio, we've got a war to end."  
"Hell yeah, sir! Ohio said as he started the pelican and closed the ramp."  
"Angel One-Two, clear for take off."  
"Copy, tower."  
The Pelican's engines ascended into a roar as it lifted vertically off the helipad, and down to a whine as it transitioned to level flight.  
Simmons got in the rear seat and entered the New Republic base coordinates. "Location entered, let's go."  
"Afterburner?"  
"Afterburner." Simmons replied.  
Ohio opened the throttle all the way, and a few seconds later,a sonic boom was heard as the pelican broke the barrier.  
"ETA: 15 minutes"  
"Brilliant." Ohio replied.

**_45 minutes earlier_**

"Here we go, they don't have an Air control, so we'll have to do some explaining on the ground." Four-Seven told Carolina, who was standing behind her in the cockpit, as the pelican descended on the New Republic base.  
"We'll make it work."  
"You better be right."  
"We'll be fine. It's not like you'll get your precious Pelican scratched, anyway."  
"With all due respect commander, fuck you."  
"Acknowledged."  
"Now, back to things actually relevant, ETA...15 seconds.  
"Good." Carolina turned and left the cockpit, and walked through the group to stand in front of the ramp as it began to open  
"Okay, Do not draw your weapons, do not act threatening, and DO NOT do anything stupid.  
"But Grif's here."  
"Fuck off Sarge!"  
"Shut it, you two." Carolina looked back at them.  
There was a small bump as the pelican settled onto the dirt out side the base, atop the hill it was on.  
Carolina and the others stepped out of the pelican, and were greeted by five New Republic soldiers pointing DMRs at them.  
In the middle of the line of five soldiers, stood Vanessa Kimball, the commander of the New republic.  
"I'm giving you 30 seconds to start explaining yourself. Starting now." Kimball raised her DMR, aiming at Carolina.  
Carolina raised her hands. "It's okay, Kimball, we're UNSC."  
"First, how do you know my name, second, The UNSC forgot us since the covena-Wait, Tucker, Grif and Caboose? Where the hell WERE you? Felix has been out for the past three hours looking for you!"  
Caboose answered first "Well, we went in the jeeps to a snowy place, we found agent Washingtub, the guy from Texas, the weird pink guy and the spanish robot, and then there were disintegrating people, and then there were the bad people in black, and then there was a plane, and another plane, and explosions, and-"  
"Uhh...Thank you, Caboose, now, anyone got that in english?"  
"Okay, first off, yes, we're UNSC, and I've been individually gathering info for the last two weeks. Second, here."  
Carolina pulled a holographic projector, much like the one Ohio used, but this time with the recording from both her and Tucker on it.  
She turned it on and tossed it on the ground. "This should do some explaining."  
The recording started, and much of the same scene Ohio had shown played again, but this time from Tucker's perspective.  
Everyone watched Apprehensively. When the part with the disintegrating man happened, the new republic soldiers all blinked in confusion.  
"I can't decide whether that's fucked or cool." Palomo said, as it WAS the enemy being destroyed.  
"It's going to get real fucked." Carolina said.  
The part with Locus revealing himself showed up, and the Republic soldiers became confused. "Isn't he killing his own men?" Kimball said. "And who are those people in black?"  
"Mercs. Like Locus."  
Felix appeared on screen in the recording, blocking the sniper round, and telling Tucker to give him the grenade. A few of the soldiers grinned at Felix being seemingly heroic as usual.  
"What's so strange here?" Kimball asked.  
As Felix caught the grenade, tossed it to Locus, and turned to Tucker. the Republic soldier's grins vanished. "What the hell?"  
As Felix gave his explanation of the war, and got to the part where he confirmed it was a setup, the soldier's eyes widened.  
"What the fuck? What the actual fuck?"  
"Yes." Carolina said.  
As the footage continued, a second part of the projection opened up, displaying Carolina's footage, as she revealed herself dropped the grenade, and the shooting started.  
"Who's the second video from? They're fucking good." Palomo asked.  
"That would be me. And thanks." Carolina said, trying to suppress a smirk, even through her helmet.  
The recording got to the part where Four-Seven gave them cover, and Carolina switched it off.  
"I think that explains enough."  
Kimball was shocked. "I...He-THEY goddamn used us. This whole entire war. A fucking setup. Fuck him."  
"At least you can end the war peacefully now, right?" Carolina said.  
"How are we supposed to get the feds to believe us?"  
"I have another aircraft, along with simmons, Donut, and a medic that escaped with us going to their main base to sort things out with Doyle. They should be on their way here now."  
"Four steps ahead of me."  
"Precisely."  
A minute later, the drone of turbojet and repulsor engines was heard as Ohio's pelican approached.  
"Here we go." Carolina said.  
The Pelican closed the distance, and touched down next to Four-Seven's.  
The engines spun down, and the ramp opened, with Ohio, Donut, Simmons, Grey, and Doyle stepping out.  
"Nice day for a peace agreement, isn't it?" Doyle said.  
Kimball walked over to Doyle, and they shook hands. "Nice to meet you in person, Doyle."  
"I can say the same myself, Kimball. Especially since we're meeting in a situation where we're _not_ trying to riddle each other with bullets!"  
"That's always nice, isn't it?"  
"It sure is. Now, when can we get this agreement going?"  
"Right n-...As soon as possible, yeah."  
"Something wrong?"  
"Nothing, nothing, it's just..." She chuckled and looked down. "All at once, this is all a bit overwhelming."  
"Yeah...I guess it is."  
Kimball looked up, smiling behind her visor. "So, start in ten minutes?"  
"Okay."  
"Great. Now here, I'll show you to our war room." She turned to the Reds, Blues, and Freelancers. 'And you guys can go in and do whatever you need to do to set up. Caboose, Grif, Tucker, and Simmons already know their way around."  
Ohio watched Kimball and Doyle walk into the base. "So, where should we start?"  
"First of all..." Carolina said, keying her radio. "Warbird, Cloak the _Invention_, bring her Around to 2 clicks northwest of our position, and drop to 1000 feet."  
"I take it things are going well?"  
"So far."  
"Copy that, I'll bring her around."  
"Thank you, Warbird."  
"So, now what're you guys going to do?" Palomo asked, turning to the team.  
Tucker turned to Palomo. "Well, now that we're all here, after I did most of the work saving our asses to get here-"  
"Ten bucks says you didn't do jack shit." South said, her arms folded, and wearing an obnoxious smirk behind her visor.  
"Fuck off South, I am trying to have my moment here."  
"Well, your 'moment' is crashing and burning, jackass."  
"Wow. You're a special kind of asshole."  
"I'm going to take that as a compliment."  
"Goddamn you."  
"Well, she's kinda right." Palomo said.  
"Fuck this."  
Carolina cut in. "That's enough of that, now let's grab what we can, and move it to the base. Ohio, Four-Seven, what's in the Pelicans already?"  
"A bunch of medkits, a few repair kits, two ammo crates, and a crate full of rifles are in each bird." Four-Seven said. "They're required to be stocked on every Pelican, but we can just get more on the _Invention_."  
"Good for now, let's take some to base."  
Four-Seven and Ohio stepped into the back of their Pelicans and lifted up part of the rows of seats, revealing the supplies beneath. The others started picking up crates and carrying them through the gates of the base.  
Carolina tried to pick up one of the weapon crates, having difficulty due to its length and weight.  
"Need some help? Here." Carolina looked up to see York pulling up one side of the crate. "Anytime now."  
"Thanks." She took the other end of the crate, and they stepped out of the Pelican and onto the dry desert sand outside the base.  
They walked in silence for a minute, before York spoke. "So, you had some variation of Epsilon with you."  
"Yeah..."  
"And he was like, a combination of all the other A.I.s?"  
"Well, he had copies of the others, yes, but I'm not entirely sure where you're getting at..."  
"What did he show you?"  
"A lot, why?"  
"More specifically, what did the _Delta_ part of him show you?"  
Carolina slowly grinned under her helmet.  
_I see where this is going.  
_"A lot of things, nothing _too_ important."  
"Well, okay, like wha-"  
"And whether or not I would hold a certain topic against you is yet to be determined."  
"Wellll, shit."  
They reached the armoury building at the base, where everyone else had set down their stuff, put the crate on the ground.  
"You know, York, if you just admitted a certain thing, then I may decide on my answer much faster."  
"Goddammit."  
"You know you want to."  
"Fine, I think your armour look good on you."  
"I'll hold it against you."  
"Fuck."  
Carolina put a hand on York's shoulder. "Don't worry, You'll get your chance soon, just you wait. Now I'm gonna find the others." She walked off towards where she last saw the others go.  
York watched her walk off. '_she's doing this on purpose, that's for sure.'  
_"You know, nothing's stopping you from following me."  
"Right, right, just...lost myself for a second."  
He jogged to catch up with her, and they started looking for the others.  
York walked in silence, before an idea came to his mind.  
"So, if Delta showed you a lot, there must not be a lot you don't already know."  
"Yeah, such as?"  
"Well, just the little things, you know, what I did after I left the project, top secret files that I managed to hack on my way out, the fact that I always had a thing for someone with blood-red hair and the ability to dual wield ranged energy weapons, _little things_."  
"Nice delivery, but that _may_ have actually been cornier than mine."  
"All according to plan."  
"Which probably doesn't exist."  
"Exactly!"  
Carolina laughed. "You're a complete nob, you know that, right?"  
"I take pride in it."  
"That's great. Well, here we are." Carolina said as they found the others around the main command building.  
"Glad you finally showed up. Tex and Wash are in there with Kimball and Doyle. They'll probably be done in a few minutes."  
"Thanks North. I'll go in anyway."  
Carolina opened the door and stepped into the building, with York staying outside with the others.  
Carolina saw Kimball, Doyle, Wash and Tex standing around a Holotable.  
"Fill me in, how far have you gotten?"  
Kimball looked up from the table "We've gotten all the peace agreements signed and out of the way, so now we're figuring out logistics and coordinating resources."  
"And how're you both doing for resources?"  
"It could be better, but it could barely be worse."  
"Meaning?"  
"We're screwed for supplies."  
"We can help them out with that, right?" Wash said.  
"Well, somewhat, I don't actually know the full stock of the _Invention_, but I don't think it will be enough."  
"We can just call in a support ship, a cruiser, or even one of the newer frigates, they have a TON of space on them." Tex said.  
"I didn't know you guys had authorization to do that."  
"Oh sure, just tell HIGHCOM our situation, tell 'em what we need, they send a ship, and it'll arrive in about 3 hours with all the stuff we need."  
"That's brilliant! I assume your mates will also send more men to help us out?" Doyle said.  
"Of course. They'll probably send an entire Marine MEU, along with some ODST units, And a few armoured columns and mechanized divisions."  
"Excellent. Now, Kimball, I think it's high time we each told our men the news?"  
"Yes, let's do it."  
Kimball opened a channel to all her forces. "Servicemen and women of The New Republic.  
It is with great joy that I announce to you, that our conflict with the Federal Army of Chorus has come to a peaceful end."  
She waited for the sounds of excitement from outside to die down. "While we have ended this one conflict, unfortunately, we are on the threshold of another.  
It has been brought to my attention, with substantial evidence, that much of this war was orchestrated on both sides by the same group. A group of mercenaries, or 'space pirates', as they call themselves. I have also found out that the mercenaries by the names of 'Felix', on our side, and 'Locus', on the side of the Federal army, have been working for these pirates. The desire to kill each other was all an act. They were the reason we haven't yet ended this war. These pirates they are working for are only here to kill us, ALL of us, and they thought that the best way to do that was for us to kill each other. We do not know why they want to do this, or who is making them do this, but we do know they must be stopped at all costs. For this reason, the New Republic, and the Federal Army have formed an alliance to take down this enemy and finally bring peace to our planet. You may be wondering 'How can we do this on such short notice?' Well, I am pleased to announce to you, that for the first time since the end of the war with the Covenant, The UNSC has returned to Chorus. This team is likely far and above all in the UNSC save for the SPARTAN-IIs. This team is the former agents of the infamous covert program, Project Freelancer. They have managed, through unlikely odds, to get themselves back together. They are looking for a chance to redeem themselves as good people this time around, and this is their chance. Not only that, but they will be assisted by the people who of course need no introduction to you, the legendary 'Reds and Blues'. The upcoming conflict may be tough, it may be long, but we're the people of planet Chorus, we are not going to roll over and die, dammit, we're going to FIGHT!"  
Kimball closed the radio channel and realized she had been pacing around the room during her speech. "That was possibly the most intense speech I've ever given."  
"I'm not going to lie, that was pretty damn good." Carolina said.  
"Thanks. Doyle, your turn."  
"Alright, here we go, You reeeally set the bar high there for me, Kimball."  
"Glad to hear it. Now don't be shy."  
Doyle turned on his radio, and started to give a very similar speech to his men, but with his own twist on it,(and sounding more British) as well as his own ending, no less enthusiastic.  
"So, it's 'boutta get tough out here for awhile, but you know how we are. Boys, we're gonna give 'em hell!"  
"Nice job Doyle, almost as good as mine."  
"I do believe it's the other way around."  
"Whatever you want to believe."  
The four started to walk out of the building. "So I heard you saying something about supply ships, don't you have some form of your own?"  
"Yeah," Carolina said, and quickly muttered something on a radio channel. As they stepped out of the building, she raised her hand to the sky in the distance behind her. A large chunk of air flickered in the sky.  
"Allow me to introduce you to the Paris-Class frigate, _Mother of Invention_." She said as the giant mass of titanium appeared only 2 kilometres from the base, turning side-on, and opening its left side hangar doors.  
Doyle stared at the ship before speaking.  
"You know, if I was they guy in charge of these mercs we'll be fighting, and me and my mates could see this, I'd say we're already right buggered."  
"That's...one way to put it." Kimball said.  
"Sure is, now I should probably take my team back up there, and get our stuff together. We left some stuff from our pelicans near the armoury, help yourselves."  
"Okay, thank you."  
"Doyle, you coming with us so we can take you back to your men, or staying here for the day?"  
"I think I'll stay, if you don't mind, I'll be back there tomorrow, they'll be fine."  
"Alright, see you. Grey, you coming with us?"  
"Sure."  
"Alright. Everyone, let's Go!"  
The group made their way out of the base and onto the pelicans sitting on the desert sand, the bodies being hot to the touch from the sun beating down on them.  
As the team split up and got on, Ohio and Four-Seven ran up the engines, before taking off with the gear and ramp down and staying in VTOL mode because of the short length of the flight. Some stayed standing, others sat.  
Two minutes later, the Pelicans hovered into the _Invention_'s left hangar, and slowly settled onto the deck. The arrestor wire was only for landing at speed.  
The teams stepped out of the pelicans. Warbird met them in the Hangar. "Nice to see you back, now let's get settled, To get to your rooms, go left out of the Hangar, to the end of the hallway, go right, then next left. There should be more than enough rooms for each of you, claim whichever vacant one you want, there are a lot. You can pick up a set of clean things in the rooms, there's an automated system that will give you the clothes you want. When you're done, feel free to explore, ask one of the Freelancers for help if you need it."  
The Reds and Blues started heading towards their own rooms, with the Freelancers staying behind.  
"Are you sure these guys are going to be an asset to us, Carolina?" CT said.  
"Positive. Sure, they may be total knuckleheads on their own, but when they actually work together, they fight outstandingly."  
"Uhhh..."  
"I know it's hard to believe, but just go with it."  
"Well, we always have ourselves to back them up, and there's always time to train them to some extent." Ohio said.  
"They don't listen to well, but it's definitely doable."  
"One can only hope."  
"Well, it's nice to have the whole team back, isn't it?" North said  
"Yeah."  
There was a brief silence.  
Ohio pushed off the side of the pelican he was leaning against, and started to leave the Hangar.  
"Welp, I'm gonna go get out of this armour, maybe show the reds and blues around a bit, then I'm going to go shoot things."  
"What?" Carolina said.  
"We had a shooting range installed on the training floor."  
"Ah. Nice."  
Ohio left the hangar, and headed back to his room. He didn't see any of the Reds and Blues. _Must be off somewhere else._ He thought, as he opened his door.  
He pulled off his MKV helmet, before turning it around and examining his reflection in the blue visor, and readjusted his glasses and fixed his brown hair, sticking up from being in his helmet for a while.  
After he washed up, he changed out of his Red and white armour into a Red T-shirt with Black shoulders, red and white sleeves, and with the words: NAVY TACTICAL FIGHTER SQUADRON VFA-237: FIREFIGHTERS, his squadron, printed on the back, along with a set of marine BDU pants, in a digital MARPAT-D marine desert camoflage pattern.  
He picked up his sidearm he carried when not in armour: A Sig P226R combat, with a threaded barrel and a flat-dark-earth coloured frame, A 500 year old weapon, but excellent nonetheless. He checked the mag and chamber on the weapon, and shoved it into a drop leg holster on his thigh.  
He left his room and started walking towards the range.  
He came across Simmons at an intersection of hallways, looking at a holographic floor plan on a handheld device.  
"You lost?"  
"Huh? No, not really, just looking around that's all."  
"I'm going to the firing range, want to come with?"  
"Ok, I'll come."  
"Nice. So, where'd the others go?"  
"Hell if I know, probably searching for the mess or something."  
"They'll be fine on their own, I assume?"  
"Yeah, only worry is they might break the ship's...everything."  
"Eh, she's fallen from orbit and clipped a mountainside, she can take it."  
"Even so, I'd watch out."  
"I'll see what I can do. Aaand we're here." Ohio opened a door and they stepped into a room filled with weapon racks and worktables, with a window looking on to the range.  
"This obviously, is the armoury. You've got all you're standard issue gear - MA5D Assault Rifles, BR85HB SR Battle rifles, M395 DMRs, and the like,  
But _HERE..._" He said, sliding a wall rack out of the way to reveal a second one in behind the first. "Is where we keep our non-standard weapons. Here's mine."  
He picked an Assault rifle off the rack.  
"That's an old one. Some sort of AR15, it looks like." Simmons said.  
"Yep. M16A4 MWS assault rifle. Three round burst, direct impingement gas system, 20 inch barrel, 30 rounds of 5.56X45mm NATO ammunition. This one's a current reproduction by FN Herstal and Misriah Armoury. I like mine the way the US marines would've had them way back in the 21st Century. That is, with an ACOG combat optic, AN/PEQ laser, and a vertical foregrip."  
"Awesome! Can I take a gun from the rack?"  
"Pick one, I'll tell you if it's taken."  
Simmons thought for a second, before picking up a rifle. "I always liked this type."  
"Kalashnikov AKM."  
"The updated AK47 rifle, right?"  
"Yeah. Nice choice. You can keep it."  
"Really?"  
"Yep, We all have weapons like these of our own, we were going to give everyone a chance to pick one out tomorrow. You, obviously, have the first pick."  
"Awesome!"  
"You can choose a sidearm and some attachments for your AK tomorrow, but let's actually get to shooting." Ohio handed Simmons some AK mags and ear protection, and picked up some mags for his own rifle.  
"Alright, let's go." Simmons said.  
They crossed to the other side of the armoury, where Ohio opened a second door next to a large window looking on to the range, and stepped out.  
Simmons followed and closed the door behind him. "Woah, it's a lot...bigger than I thought it would be."  
"Yeah, and it can be made bigger. we can have, like 600 metres on this range."  
"What? Seriously, how the fuck?"  
"It's, like reverse-engineered forerunner tech. I haven't got a clue how it works,...I guess it's like the TARDIS, On the outside, it's small, but on the inside, It, like...makes shit Big."  
"Oh, okay."  
"Anyway..." Ohio said, stopping at a range table, and putting on his hearing protection. "Let's get shooting."  
Simmons put on his hearing protection after setting his rifle and mags on the table. "SO, WHERE ARE THE TARGETS?"  
"These headphones only cancel out gunfire and explosions, no need to shout."  
"Oh, sorry..about that."  
"It's alright." Ohio hit a switch, and a set of ten steel targets flipped up out of the ground  
"Range is hot." He said.  
Ohio inserted a mag into his M16, reached back and racked the charging handle, tilted the gun over to make sure the bolt was closed, and switched the selector from SAFE to BURST.  
"Me first." He put his hand on the foregrip and raised the rifle, taking a second to get a good sight picture, before putting his finger on the trigger, pulled, and held.  
There were three explosive cracks, as the 5.56 caliber rounds flew out of the barrel and into their target on the other side of the room, putting two clean hits on its chest, and one to its head - a technique known as the "Mozabique drill".  
He took less than a second to readjust his aim to the next target, and another three-round burst landed on it, the spent casings spraying out of the ejection port.  
Ohio continued with eight more targets, on the 30th round, the bolt locked open, and within a second, Ohio grabbed a mag off the table while dropping the other out of his gun, rammed the fresh mag home, and hit the bolt release, all while keeping the gun leveled at the targets.  
He switched to safe and lowered his gun, some smoke wafting off the barrel, and hit a switch on the table to raise the targets again. "Your turn."  
"Okay. I got this."  
Simmons picked up a mag, putting it in tilted so only the nose was in the magwell, and rocked it backwards until it locked, slid the safety lever to full auto, pulled the charging handle, and released.  
"Aaand, firing."  
Simmons took his finger off the trigger guard, and let loose a few bursts of automatic fire. Most of the rounds found their mark, but some still flew wide and impacted on the backstop of the range.  
Simmons kept firing until he was empty. Although he hadn't managed the perfection of accuracy of Ohio, all targets had been downed nevertheless.  
Simmons rocked the empty mag out of the AK, picked up another, and inserted it, before turning the gun on its side and pulling the charging handle, before putting the safety back up, resting his finger on the trigger guard, and lowering the weapon.  
"So, how was that?"  
"I'll admit, my expectations weren't too high, but you did a lot better than I expected."  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, while your accuracy and control weren't great, and your reload technique could use a faster method, I will admit that you showed a lot more discipline than I expected. You maintained proper trigger discipline when not firing, shortened your bursts for control, and knew your way around the weapon pretty damn well."  
"Yeah, the trigger discipline is me being a stickler for rules, (I even read the entire UNSC rulebook) and the knowledge of the weapon comes from me having way too much time on my hands and an internet connection when I was still a sim trooper."  
"Well, first of all, you applied your knowledge well, second, The ENTIRE rulebook? All of it?"  
"Like I said, stickler for rules, too much time on my hands."  
"I'm not going to lie, that's actually an accomplishment."  
"Haha. Uh, thanks."  
"You're welcome. Now, let's empty the rest of these mags, and I'll give you some tips."  
"Okay, like what?"  
"Well, first of all, when you reload, try and keep the gun pointed at your target. The reload you did was good, but one of the most basic. You can do pretty much the same thing, except when you go to chamber it, keep it upright and reach under the gun to the right side, rather than tilting it to reach over."  
"Okay, got it, anything else?"  
"Well, there is a faster technique where you get a new mag before removing your old one, and use the new one to kick the old one out of the gun, It's the fastest technique, but if you do it in combat, you shouldn't mind possibly being unable to recover your old mags."  
"Okay, I think I've heard of that one before, now how to I control my accuracy more?"  
"Well first off, don't slap the trigger as hard, second, either use semi or keep burst consistent, third..."

Ohio gave some more instruction, they both fired off a mag, Ohio gave instructions again, and the cycle repeated as the spent brass and empty mags piled up, and the dents in the steel targets multiplied, the sun began to set on the _Invention_, and the desert below.  
The bolt on Ohio's M16 pushed a round into the chamber, and as the round fired, was shoved backwards, and locked to the rear as it ejected the last round of Ohio's last mag of the day.  
Ohio checked the open port, removed the mag, released the bolt, and engaged the safety as he waited for Simmons' rifle to fall silent as well. As Simmons dropped the mag, racked the charging handle to check the gun was clear and raised the safety. Ohio picked up his empty mags, and headed back to the armoury, with Simmons doing the same.  
"I'm impressed. You improved a lot in the last hour, and now you're shooting 2-inch groups at 30 metres. You'll probably blow away everyone else on your team tomorrow, when you get a scope."  
"Wow, uh, thanks, didn't expect to hear that...ever." Simmons said as he put his rifle back on the rack and took his earpro off. "Anyway, I know we bring the empty mags back here, but what about all that spent brass?"  
"There's an automated system that will funnel it through a hole in the floor. It'll get reloaded with new rounds, primers, and powder."  
"Cool, and I'll just leave the mags...Where?"  
"There should be an empty rack for your mag type next to the rack you took the full ones off of. There's an automated refiller in the wall behind it. Also. just hang your earpro headphones over your rifle on the rack for now, They get dirty, so no need to share. We'll get everyone a box for their equipment tomorrow." Ohio said, as he dropped his mags next to full ones of the same type, put his gun on the rack, and put his ear protection into a box, which he locked up and put on a shelf with a bunch of other boxes under the table below the gun rack. He waited until Simmons took care of his stuff.  
"Okay, I suggest you get something to eat, the mess hall is just two floors below the bridge, so you could just take the steps up to the training room observation deck, go out the door leading onto the hallway, and first room on your left, can't miss it. Your friends will probably be there, as they're probably starving by now."  
"I bet Grif already ate half the shit there."  
"The orange guy? Eh, seems like he'd do that."  
"He's done that before."  
"Jesus, really?"  
"Yeah."  
Ohio shook his head. "Wow. Anyway, I trust you know where to go, I'll be there in a few, go on your own." Ohio said, as he started to go down the hallway.  
"Okay, but where're you 'goin?"  
Ohio spun around and walked backwards to talk as he walked off. "I'm going to go bug Four-Seven."  
"The girl who flew us in?"  
"Yeah."  
"That seems suicidal."  
He shrugged. "Hey, I'm bored."  
"Okay, I'm not going to feel sorry for you if she shoots you off the catapult."  
Ohio turned back to face the direction he was headed. "As long as I don't hit on her, I should be fine. _SHOULD_."  
"You're gonna get your ass beat, aren't you?"  
"Most definitely."  
Simmons watched Ohio walk off, before turning to the stairs and walking up to the observation deck. He looked down at what was once the training room, where so much of the Freelancer's pivotal moments had been spent.  
'_Well, these next few weeks are either going to go really well, or history's going to repeat itself. Then we'll be in deep, deep, DEEP shit. But I guess now's not the time to worry about that.' _he thought, as he turned and exited through the deck's door, onto the hallway. He looked to his left, and sure enough, the large mess hall was right there. He saw the Reds, Blues, and some of the Freelancers all sitting together, with Marines, crewmembers, and pilots occupying the other tables. He got something to eat, and made his way over to his friends, joining in on their conversations and jokes, and almost forgetting the coming storm outside the ship's hull, if only for a little bit.

* * *

**First of all: Yes there will be 21st century weapons in this story. Because I like them. Second, Four-Seven's going to be a much more major character in this story. Also, I feel obligated to do the copyright shit, so RvB - Roosterteeth. Halo - 343i. AKM rifle - Kalashnikov concern. Sig handgun - Sig Sauer. M16 rifle - FN Herstal, Armalite. I won't do this for every chapter, but I just feel like doing it for this one.**

**Also, Hopefully I can get another chapter up soon. 'Soon' Meaning 2-3 months. No promises.**


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